LAS VEGAS, May 26 - We’ve seen some bad cuts and blood-splattered Octagons over the years, but few spillages come close to the volumes that poured from Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in the UFC 146 co-main event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night, courtesy of a wicked Cain Velasquez elbow and then a relentless avalanche of ground and pound.

Silva, best known for beating the legendary Fedor Emelianenko, and making his UFC debut, appeared overmatched from the opening bell against the former UFC heavyweight kingpin. To make matters worse, “Bigfoot” had to cope with not only with Velasquez’s fury, but also a face that bled profusely.

In the end, at 3:36 of round one, Silva turned over and began to wilt, prompting referee Josh Rosenthal to halt the action and declare Velasquez the winner via TKO.

“Just to get over the past, just to get another step in the right direction, it’s great. It’s definitely a step in the right direction,” said Velasquez, getting his first win since losing his title to Junior dos Santos last year. “Dan Cormier, my teammate, he fought Bigfoot Silva and he told me some things that helped me tonight.”

That is what Roy Nelson had me thinking after a thunderous, out-of-nowhere right hand that felled Dave Herman and drew an eruption of “ooohs” and aaahs” from a collectively mesmerized crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Just 51 seconds in, Roy Nelson’s work for the night was over. The Las Vegan jumped atop the Octagon, gleamed out into the stands and performed his patented belly rub.

“I want to thank ‘Pee Wee’ for taking the fight with me, since everybody else dropped out and didn’t want to fight me,” said Nelson, who improved to 18-7.

In a battle of unbeatens, Stipe Miocic’s gas tank and grappling game eventually overwhelmed Shane Del Rosario en route to a second-round TKO. Conditioning clearly played a role in Del Rosario’s downfall, as the Californian impressed in the first round with an array of kicks and an uppercut that appeared to stun Miocic.

Miocic (9-0) held his own in the standup, but exploited his winded adversary in the second stanza, easily taking Del Rosario (11-1) down and dropping heavy elbows. Del Rosario’s face became a bloody mess and his defense was M.I.A., prompting referee Yves Lavigne to halt the action at 3:14.

You rarely see guard-pulling in MMA, let alone in the heavyweight ranks. But when you’re 6’11 1/2”, it’s a rather easy maneuver to pull off. So when Stefan Struve clinched with hard-hitting Lavar Johnson early in their tussle, Struve’s successful guard pull may have caught the Californian by surprise. Because moments later, just 65 seconds in, Johnson was tapping to an armbar.

“I felt like I could get the armbar …he’s a heavy hitter so why give him any chance at all to win the fight?” said Struve (28-5), who won his third straight.